Robot designed to power itself by eating mice

Instead of watching the circus that is reality TV, two UK-based designers are suggesting that we could all be entertained in our own homes by watching robots devour vermin.

They have created five Carnivorous Domestic Entertainment Robots, which are powered not by the sun, the wind or even batteries, but by microbial fuel cells. This means they are designed to catch all manners of flying, creeping and crawling insects -- or rodents -- and digest them to produce power.

The designers, Jimmy Loizeau and James Auger, describe their creations as "dark forms of life", but suggest that we humans will feel a growing affection towards these robots as they devour for power -- a viewpoint they explain in the video below.

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There are five robots in total. These include the Lampshade Robot, which lures flies and moths to eat, and the Cobweb Robot, which encourages spiders to weave webs, then extracts the little victims from the webs to lodge in its fuel cell. There's also a UV Parasite Fly Killer Robot and the Flypaper Robotic Clock.

But the creation that elicited the most horror at Wired HQ is the Mousetrap Coffee Table Robot. The idea is that food debris could be used to lure an unsuspecting mouse or rat onto the custom designed coffee table. At the centre is a trap door, which, when triggered by motion sensors, will open to catch the rodent. Once it has died in its prison, the chemicals get to work, the microbial fuel cell does its thing, and then a light on the side of the table will show how much energy is being produced. You know, just for fun.

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Along with their interstitial space helmet, the robots remain as concepts only, much to the relief of rodents and bugs inside the nation's domestic crevices. Find out more in the video below, and let us know what you think in the comments.